BIRDS. 173 



18 ill the wooded basin below the chalet at Graiiile Park going 

 around from tree top to tree top in search of the cones whose seeds 

 their sharply pointed crossed bills enable them to extract with dex- 

 terity. The metallic k'mip />'im^) of the crossbills was heard in a 

 number of places — Many (xlaciers, Going-to-the-Sun Camp, Black- 

 feet Glacier Amphitheater, Waterton Lake, Reynolds Cabin Lakes, 

 Kootenai Pass, and Lake McDonald. On April 21, 1918, Mr. Bailey 

 heard crossbills about Le\Yis's Hotel. 



In 1900, INfr. Bryant says, there were more crossbills than he has 

 ever seen, but their numbers decreased steadily for several years 

 afterwards. On May 30, 1895, Messrs. Bailej'^ and Howell reported a 

 flock of fourteen flying over the woods near Red Eagle Lake. 



"White-wixoed Crossbill: Loxia leucoptera. — ]\Ir. Bryant has 

 found the white-wing feeding young, and saj^s it undoubtedly breeds 

 at times in the park. From 1900-1902, he says, the birds were in 

 the park in great numbers along with the common crossbill. 



Gray-crowxed Leucosticte: Leucosticte 

 tephrocotis tepKrocotis. — The summer home of 

 the rare leucosticte or rosy finch is above ptar- 

 migan slopes, among bare rocks such as the 

 Garden Wall, and the rock piles of passes and 

 summits where conies and marmots live ; for in 

 niches protected from the wind these hardy 

 birds find shelter for themselves and their 

 young. Outside few people ever see the delight- 

 ful birds, for the search for them records long, 

 hard climbs to lofty mountain peaks; but in f—- Handbook of^westem Birds. 

 the park, the trails over the passes leading by fic 77. — Gray-crowned 

 the ptarmigan slopes take one almost to the ''"'^"^ ^^ ^' 



homes of the rosy finches, and by listening for loud, raucous calls 

 and watching for wind-blown figures around the peaks, one may 

 occasionally be able to locate them. 



At Gunsight Pass, attracted by their calls, we found them flying 

 around the pinnacles above the trail, where there was a rare view 

 down the grim canyon and over the smooth, green waters of Lake 

 Ellen Wilson to the hazy ridges beyond the park. 



In Piegan Pass a pair of the birds were found on the south slope 

 feeding young and flying back and forth from the first dwarf spruces 

 below the pass to the broken rocks of the diorite ridge on the crest 

 'above the pass, where perhaps some of the brood still lingered near 

 the nest. A couple of da^^s later a brood was seen on the warm 

 south slope along the trail, where pipits were also feeding young 

 and an old ptarmigan was leading around a brood. Busily hunting 

 for tiny seeds and small insects, the rosy finches raised their caps so 



